The SAW File
by RandomMumble
Summary: Jigsaw has picked the Agents Mulder and Scully for his newest trap. Can they win his game? And why do they have to play at all? Nasty traps, shocking secrets, and – Oh, yes, there will be blood. !REWRITTEN!
1. Trapped

**IMPORTANT NOTE, please, spare a moment to read: **The whole story is rewritten, since it was a pain to read. I believe it is much better now, though certainly not perfect. Heck, if I could write perfectly or even near that, I'd be selling books instead of writing FanFiction, you bet. Anywayyy, aside from grammar, formatting and such, I also changed minor details, expanded some scenes and such stuff. It should be possible to just go on reading Chapter 5 (when it's up) if you read the first four when I last updated, but I'd recommend giving the first four another chance, however, because – seriously – there's more good stuff now. ;P

**Title: The SAW Files **

**Disclaimer: **No copyright infringements intended! 

_**Complete Story Details: **_

**Summary: **Jigsaw has picked the Agents for his newest trap. Can they win the game? And why did they have to play at all? Nasty traps, shocking secrets, and – oh, yes... there will be blood!

**Language: **English

**Category:** FanFiction / Crossover– TV-Series / X-Files – Movies / Saw

**Timeline: **_Saw_: replaces the actual first movie; _X-Files:_ no actual, but before Scully got cancer, because of the "value your life"-stuff. I'm pretty sure, she never took her living for granted after that...

**Characters:** Scully, D. / Mulder, F. / Jigsaw (but just a little, rather his work ;) ) / Along with two OC, you will love to watch suffer. (who wouldn't like some free OC-bashing? ]=D)

**Genre: **Suspense / Horror

**Rating:** _M_ (Language, Violence)

**A/N:** My traps aren't as clever as Jigsaw's, I'm not such a 'mastermind' (_I'd love to meet the guys who came up with all that brilliance. Or actually, I'd rather stand behind bulletproof glass and give them a thumbs-up or something. ;P)_ – but I'll try to come up with some nasty shit as sick as my head would allow me... mwaha

_**Chapter Details: **_

**Title Chapter 1: **Trapped  
**Chapter 1 Summary: **Mulder wakes up in a strange room and finds out, he is not alone. Adding to his own dilemma he finds some seemingly innocent people and even Scully are in there with him**. **Why is the question.  
**Words in Chapter 1: **2.126

* * *

**Part 1:  
Trapped **

Slowly, very slowly Agent Mulder awoke, feeling drained, dizzy and exhausted. His back was aching terribly and his head felt like somebody had worked on it with a jackhammer. After what felt like an eternity his eyes finally adjusted a little to the darkness around him. It was almost impossible for him to concentrate, due to the loosening, but yet secure grip of unconsciousness still lingering on him. Adding to that came an increasing, throbbing pain in his head.  
As his hand reached out for his forehead it found a gaping wound there, not a fresh one, but it couldn't be very old, either. The blood covering it was not yet fully dried. He twitched, quickly withdrawing his hand from the sticky gash. The sharp hissing noise he made echoed surrealistically in the strange place. Eventually he was able to make out hints of silhouettes in his surroundings. There wasn't much to see after all… He figured vaguely it could be an abandoned freight house, but there was no way to be sure.

The floor was slightly wet and cold, and very uncomfortable. He was sitting on iron grating, but there had to be concrete just about an inch beneath it, Mulder could feel the mouldy dampness under the bare soles of his feet, heating the bruised skin. He tried to stand up, but failed miserably. Not only the dizziness, that overcame him pulled him back, but also a cold and quite heavy object on his right ankle. His fingers traced down his leg, searching for the source of the problem only to find an iron shackle. Attached to it was a chain, leading into a area he couldn't make out in the darkness.  
Mulder grabbed for the chain and tried pulling on it, carefully at first until frustration got the better of him, making him pull with all strength his sore muscles were willing to offer. Nothing happened, except for rattling noises, echoing through the room, bouncing back and forth, sounding like spiteful cackles.

Beginning to feel sick to his stomach he sat back, took a deep and uneven breath and ran his hands over his face. Unless something – _anything_ – would happen he had no chance to escape and the realization sent a thin layer of cold sweat forming on his back.

Still not fully capable of thinking logically he rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times and searched the room again. He didn't know, what he hoped to find, but there was no use in just leaning back and waiting for things to get better.

His gaze flew over misted outlines, but there was nothing he could recognize; only frames, garbled by shadow. However his eyes caught a slight movement in the grayish mess. He squinted hard and forced his reluctant mind to concentrate. There, on the opposite wall he identified the silhouettes of a lying body. It was too dark to tell in which state the person was.  
"Hey", Mulder called out, startled by his own voice, which was no more than a raspy croak, that scratched its way through his throat like sandpaper.  
The figure didn't react it just lay there with its seemingly motionless back turned to him. The Agent had to recover from his attempt to speak, it had cost him more energy than he had expected. For a few tormenting seconds he had to force oxygen through his aching throat and into his lungs. Within those deep breaths he smelled the air, which held a disgustingly heavy, rotten stench. He gagged fighting the urge to vomit, but couldn't keep himself from retching.

Just when he felt somewhat capable to make a new attempt at calling out he heard a soft rustling noise somewhere to his right side. As his eyes raced to the origin of the noise he was startled and delighted at the same time to see a rather vivid motion in the darkness. His first impulse was to prepare for trouble and his right hand went to his hip; of course _not_ finding the gun he'd foolishly expected to be in its usual place. He swallowed hard, trying to get an awful taste of dust and bile out of his mouth, but it didn't help at all. Breathing in deeply he rasped, "Hey, who – is – there?" The words emerged his aching throat, giving him a good idea of how it must feel to have someone pulling barbwire out of him. Mulder did his very best to suppress a cough. He regretted saying anything at all, but the place where the motion had been suddenly stilled. Mulder tried hard to be as silent as possible, concentrating on his hearing. There was a shallow breathing, barely audible, but certainly there.

For a seemingly endless moment the strange breathing was the only noise while everything else stayed quiet. There was no move in the entire, middle sized hall. Then, all of a sudden a voice echoed, splitting the silence in a very awkward way.  
"Who are… _you_?" it said coughing and wincing in pain. Sighing frustrated Mulder rested his head against the cold stone wall behind him.  
"Special Agent Fox Mulder – FBI," he whispered, figuring it was best now to overstrain his slowly recovering voice at this moment.

Carefully the blurred form in the shadows slid closer to Mulder, a rattling and scratching noise of iron accompanying it. A determined ping announced that the person was wearing a shackle as well and its chain would not allow another step farther away from wherever it was rooted.

The Agent was now able to make out the person's silhouette; apparently it was a man, overweight, probably bald judging from the shape of his head. That much he could tell from what little was visible. Sometimes he would catch the flicker of eyes in the round shadow of the man's face.

"Tobey Connelly... could be a pleasure," the stranger rasped, trying to joke, but he winced again, clutching his hands to his neck. Mulder nodded, but didn't reply.

There were at least three people in this cold room that reeked of disease and neglect. Mulder didn't know the guy, who had introduced himself as Tobey Connelly. And he had no idea whose unmoving body was lying close to the opposite wall. He couldn't remember anything of significance happening before he woke up in this place. He hadn't even been working on a case that could have involved making enemies.

After a few minutes Tobey croaked, "Where are we? ...and who are those guys?" He pointed a thick, short finger at the motionless figure on the opposite wall and into the shadows left from Mulder. The Agent frowned and narrowed his eyes to adjust his sight to the even darker area to his left. He saw the very vague outlines of two other bodies, one lying on the ground like the one across the hall and the other sitting and rocking back and forth, soundless.  
The frown deepening on his face, Mulder asked in a husky voice, "Hello... can you hear me?" But the person didn't answer but kept rocking back and forth, utterly silent. As Mulder tried once again to stand up, this time managing it surprisingly well, the figure twitched and began to whimper like a wounded animal. "It's okay... don't be scared, I won't harm you", he said soothingly, ignoring the small jolt of pain the effort caused, but the person just kept on whimpering and tried, without actual success, to crawl away from him. Taking the hint Mulder backed away again and narrowed his eyes. Shaking his head he turned back to Tobey and rasped, "I don't know. I can't even see anything really."

Just then the person, who had been lying completely motionless on the opposite side stirred and a soft moan reached Mulder's ears. He waited a bit before he raised his voice again, "You there, can you hear me?" Apparently the person tried to get up, but failed, just like Mulder had when he had first attempted to.  
All of a sudden the Agent heard a sound, that sent chills down his spine and a threatening coldness spread on his skin.  
"Mulder?" the person asked in a weak and hoarse voice.  
"Oh Sh-," he whispered more to himself than to anybody else. A little louder and obviously not wanting a positive response he asked, "Scully?"

Before Dana Scully was able to straighten up and turn her head to look at her partner a sudden loud and hollow click echoed through the hall. It was followed by a bright, blue light, flickering and crackling before it settled into a cool and somewhat aseptic feeling illumination of the already uncomfortable room.

The four more or less alert people in the room all twitched and sharp intakes of breaths could be heard. Mulder grimaced, his eyes blinded by the unexpected brightness. Squinting he waited a few seconds until his eyesight finally returned and gave him a first clear impression of his surroundings. The room was about what he had expected; an old and dirty hall, supposedly in a abandoned factory or storage building.

"Scully, can you move freely?" Mulder asked. He saw her frown puzzled, but then she looked down on herself and pulled her knee closer to her chest. On her left ankle a shackle hold her in place, the same kind as Mulder's and Tobey's. He sighed in frustration and growled, "Dammit." Cursing himself as the pain came back to his not fully recovered throat.  
By the sudden sound the figure to his left shrieked and huddled closer to the wall like a little child fearing the imaginary monster under its bed. The tall man ran a hand over his mouth and looked nonchalantly at the figure. It was a young woman. She was about twenty, give or take three years, she was short and skinny to the point of sickly, her body and face were bruised in several places and crusted blood painted a repulsive pattern all over her. Her short, blond hair was a mess that covered her face almost completely, but failed to hide the shocked, yet disturbingly blank expression it held. She wouldn't look anyone in the eyes and kept absently peering ahead.

The lying figure next to the girl was a young boy, not older than fifteen or sixteen years. Obviously he was unconscious and not dead, Mulder noticed by the slow and constant rising and falling of his chest. His face wasn't bruised as badly as the girl's, but his cloths were partly ripped and dried blood turned the fabric's colors into a nasty reddish-brown. His feet lay in plain sight and unlike any other in the hall he wasn't tied to the ground. Instead there was a heavy looking framework attached to his right shoulder. Stiff steel wire ropes led down from it to another, smaller framework around his wrist. His other arm was hidden behind his lying body.

Mulder moved his gaze to his right, briefly observing the man, who called himself Tobey. He was indeed a very overweight, bald man with tiny eyes in his balloon-like face. He too was bruised all over, but no uncanny devices were attached to his body.

"Mulder," came the hoarse voice of his partner from across the room. As he shifted his gaze towards her, relieve flickered through him for a moment. She too was free of any weird attachments other than the shackle. Mulder looked at her eyes, desperately searching for a clue in her expression. Unfortunately there was no sign that she had a better idea of what was going on. The right side of her face was partly covered in dried blood that must have come from a wound somewhere on the top of her head. Suddenly her blank expression changed into a confused frown and as she squinted the dried blood crinkled and cracked, turning the brownish red patch into a complex mosaic. Her gaze shifted downwards and Mulder's followed, stopping at her right hand, which was holding tightly onto a small black object. As Scully opened her hand the object turned out to be a cassette. She gave her partner a questioning look, but he could do nothing but shrug.  
"I have one too," Tobey announced suddenly and held up another tiny cassette. "It reads _'play me'_." He held it up for the others to see. "And that," he added, holding up a small recorder with his other hand.

After a short while Mulder ordered, "Play it." And Tobey did as told. As the big man pressed the play-button with a loud click the room went silent for a few seconds, then a deep, mechanic voice began to speak eerily.

_"Hello, Tobey. I want to play a game"... _

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

Alrighty, rewritten and hopefully not messed up even worse.

Sorry for possible spelling and grammar mistakes, or typos. Hope there're not too much.

Criticism is welcome! If you want to flame, do so in a creative way and make me goggle. ;P

Thank you for reading.


	2. Confessions Hardly Made

**Disclaimer: **No copyright infringements intended! 

_**Chapter Details: **_

**Title Chapter 2: **Confessions Hardly Made  
**Chapter 2 Summary: **Introductions to the convicts and their faults.  
**Words in Chapter 2: **3.600

**A/N:** Thank you so much, you guys! You can't even imagine how happy your reviews made me! And I'm so glad you liked it so far. =) Hope you'll enjoy this one, too.

**AN2(2012):** oh god, I hate rewriting. Also I'm more than surprised that I didn't get any flames. There were sentences I had to read three times myself – and still had no clue what the heck I was trying to say. Wow. I dearly hope that it's better now.

* * *

**Part 2:  
Confessions Hardly Made **

The air was heavy with tension.  
The five captives were utterly silent and sat motionless as they listened to the metallic voice coming from a small, silvery recorder in the hand of one of them.

"Hello, Tobey...," it said. "I want to play a game. You might want to know, where you are, but you shouldn't worry your lazy head. What matters now is, _why_ you are here.  
Everything you need to know is on this cartridge. Listen closely and follow the instructions. These are the rules.  
You and your new friends share a certain difficulty. Call it Karma. All of you have a slow processing poison working through your veins. If you lose the game you will be dead in no more than twenty-four hours. At this point I alone know what poison it is that is slowly draining the life from you. Do not despair, yet. There is a remedy. This is your main goal. The remedy is hidden somewhere in this building, but, I might add, there's a catch to this.  
You _can _find enough of the supplied syringes filled with the aid to heal your condition. You will search for one of five hiding places, each one contains a different amount of the remedy. The first offers five, one for each of you, the second has four, the third has three, the fourth has two and the fifth holds only one syringe! I suppose you can do the math here.  
Follow the cues and you will find one of these places. You will always be given a choice. Now listen closely, for this is your first cue:

_The key to run free is not far.  
The right one to leave is a source of grief, but not if attentive you are.  
With logic and wits, do as you see fits. Watch your step,  
take one wrong and along an endless nap. _

Show me, that you are worthy of the life you have been given and you will leave this place breathing. None of you would be here if you would value life properly. But now you are given time to have a change of heart, and if I were you, I would think it over – fast!"

A short moment of silence fell upon the scene and seemingly signaled the end of the speech, but just when Tobey intended to stop the tape Mulder indicated for him to leave it running and the voice rose again.

"Tobey,  
Apparently you don't have respect for anything – Neither for your body, nor for your own life, not even for anyone else's. I know you well. Why don't you tell the Agents about your daily routine -"

Harshly Tobey pressed the 'stop'-button and his gaze flashed to Agent Mulder in a dubious fashion. He shook his massive head and murmured, "There's nothing I have to tell." Mulder stared at him, intensely, but said nothing. Instead Agent Scully's voice sounded from across as she sat facing Tobey, her stare intimidating and fixed on his.  
"What does he mean by that? How do you spend your days?" The muscles in her jaw tightened ever so slightly as suspicion and curiosity outweighed the fear and confusion regarding the general situation.  
"And who, if I might inquire, are _you_?" Tobey tilted his head and threw a look that clearly spoke of annoyance at Scully. Her first impulse was to reach for her ID, but it wasn't there. She huffed at her own naïve assumption the culprit wouldn't have taken it from her.  
"Special Agent Dana Scully," she said plainly, hands resting on the floor beside her, instead of flashing her badge.  
"You two a team?" Tobey frowned and looked back and forth between the Agents.  
'_Amazing grammar,_' Scully thought. Instead of voicing anything negative she cleared her throat and said, "Yes, we are partners. Now would you please explain what the message was about?"  
The fat man shrugged hardly convincing and said, "Well, I'm unemployed, so mostly I sit at home and play videogames. 'Bout that 'don't-respect-my-body' crap, I may eat a bit too much fast food, but who doesn't? I have diabetes, but my father and grandfather had it too and they were both over eighty when they died."  
"Alright. That's not a very healthy way to live, but I can't imagine somebody would think it's a reason to put someone through this. Is there something else?" Scully observed him carefully, her forehead slightly creasing in concentration. Tobey shook his head vaguely and held up his hands, indicating unawareness of any good reason why he had been put here. "Well, why don't you play the resume then? This shouldn't be a problem. Unless you have something to hide, that is." Tobey just gave her a nasty glare before he focused on some distant point, pretending not to notice her presence at all.

A few minutes went by and the female Agent just sat with a deep frown on her bruised forehead. Finally Mulder, who had been lost in his own thoughts about their possible chances broke the silence, "What do you think?" He watched her looking up at him as if she'd forgotten, he was even there.  
"I think... we should play his game. I mean, it's not like we have an actual choice, other than waiting for death," she eventually mused, pointing to the shackles. Her partner narrowed his eyes and rested his chin thoughtfully on the knuckles of his right hand.  
"What do you mean, _'we should play'_? We have to find a way out, that's what we should do," Mulder said, frowning. But Scully just shook her head no and as she spoke again her voice was calm and rational.  
"No. I don't think that we have a choice. If we play along - well, if that guy wanted us dead, we'd be dead by _now_," Scully pointed out.  
"How do you know?" Tobey inquired. "What if it's just some sicko who gets off watching people die slowly?"  
Agent Mulder looked at Scully intensely, then he sighed, "You think, it's that 'Puzzle'-guy, don't you?" Scully shrugged but nodded slightly, not too sure herself. "I had that idea, too."

"What the fuck is going on here? Would you mind to induct me for a change?" Tobey nearly yelled desperately, which earned him an unwilling and clearly reluctant glare from the red haired woman.

She sighed heavily and in a rasped but serious voice she replied, "I am not very familiar with the case, but it was all over the newspapers. Agent Mulder and I were not part of the commission, though word gets around and some details that weren't revealed to the public seem to apply here." She tilted her head in Mulder's direction and he nodded absently. "The press named him the 'Jigsaw Killer'. There is a rather clear and constant scheme to his victims. It's always people, who did something that was wrong in his eyes. Say, murderers, drug addicts, violent or corrupt people; those, who act morally reprobate and balance on or even cross the line of righteousness. His opinion is considered to be very radical. Those who won't value and respect life, no matter if their own or others', draw his attention."  
"Okay. What's that got to do with 'Jigsaw'?" Tobey spoke up, forgetting his former determination to ignore Scully.  
"That's due to a detail all crime scenes had in common," Mulder answered, looking on the ground before him, deep in thoughts. "A piece from every victims' skin was missing. Always in the shape of a jigsaw piece."  
"Nasty," Tobey grunted, baring his teeth a bit. "Okay, go on."  
Mulder briefly glanced at Scully, then turned to face Tobey and explained, "He tests the people, who aren't worthy in his eyes. Puts up traps they can't escape unless they are willing to play by his rules. Those traps usually involve pain and fear they have to accept and overcome in order to stay alive." He drew his brows together and went quiet for a moment, his gaze becoming unfocused, again. "It certainly carries the signature so far," he spoke up again, referring to the unconscious boy with the appliances around his shoulder and wrist. "But it could be a copycat as well. The similarities that hadn't been publicized could be coincidences, although I doubt that. If we assume, it really is him, then you may be right. We'd have to obey and play by his rules. I would say, first of all, let's find out why we were chosen in the first place. There's no use in lying to save us from humiliation, it can't get much worse, so let's be honest." Mulder gazed at Tobey. He knew, that guy was hiding something from them. He could tell by the expression on Tobey's face when Scully had asked him about what was on the cassette.  
Scully nodded in agreement and Tobey merely shrugged. However when nobody seemed to be willing to say anything Mulder took a deep breath, rolled his eyes inconspicuously and cleared his throat.

"I guess, I'm the first in line, then. My name is Fox Mulder, I'm a Special Agent at the FBI. I barley have a private life. When I'm not chasing-... culprits I mostly stay at home. Well, as a matter of fact I can't think of much more to say. I suppose I could do more with my life. Maybe I could do more to prevent crimes, too." Scully rolled her eyes at that, but Mulder pretended not to notice. He felt like he was attending some Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. There were some things that actually nagged at him, but feeling responsible for his sister's abduction, or reacting too slowly in a hostage-taking, or similar things didn't seem relevant in this situation. Yet, there was one thing he considered to be a very likely possibility for why he was put into that hall. He fought with himself, but some pathetic, but incredibly convincing part of him wouldn't give him permission to voice the suspicion. Instead he tried to convince himself that no one could possibly know, that it had to be something else.  
Mulder swallowed hard. The next best thing that came to mind wasn't a story he liked to share, either. However he had said it himself, there was no use in lying. He had to force the words out of his mouth, but eventually he said, steadier than he'd expected, "When I was twelve my sister was abducted. I never saw her again. I don't remember much of the actual event, but I do remember how frozen I felt. I should have done something. Anything! But I just stood there and watched, immobilized and silent. There was never an accurate explanation for her disappearance and for some reason I, too, was a suspect for the police, there was a rumor about me having killed my own little sister. Of course, I told them what had happened, but they didn't believe me and for some time they thought I was just boldly lying to save myself." He fell silent for a few heartbeats. When his voice sounded again it was shallow and quiet. "I wasn't, and I keep searching for her ever since. I don't even know whether she's still alive or… I should have done something. She is the reason why I became what I am to the day." And that was indeed true. He just didn't tell his assumptions about what had actually happened that day, figuring it would be wiser to not risk being regarded as an unprofessional lunatic.  
"Mulder -" Scully made the attempt to speak, wanting to say something reassuring and soothing, but no more words come to her mind and even if she had known what to say, it surely wasn't a subject to be discussed in front of a probably dangerous criminal and a temporarily mentally instable girl.

Tobey gazed at the Agent, but made no move. In fact, he looked somewhat bored, which sent a jolt of anger through Scully. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and took an even breath. Finally she cleared her throat.  
"My name is Dana Scully. I'm a Special Agent with the FBI and I'm partnered with Agent Mulder" She gestured vaguely in Mulder's direction before going on with her own story. "I try to do a good job. I always wanted to do something –" She sighed, lifting her hands a bit in a somewhat helpless gesture as if she expected words flowing into her grip. "I wanted to do something good, to help. I honestly don't know whether I'm doing the right thing or not." She shrugged "As for my life aside from the bureau, that's a short story, but I don't break the law." She shifted a little uneasy and a strange frown appeared on her forehead. Sneaking a glance at Tobey she knew, she too had to admit the whole truth – Or at least, most of it.  
"Once I had this friend and she was like a sister to me, but we were no good for each other and did some… some really stupid things." Scully sat back, tilting her head and absently gazed at her hands, obviously unwilling to say anymore.  
"Such as?" Tobey inquired, saying aloud what everyone else was thinking anyway. But the short woman just raised one brow and shook her head.  
"And nothing. We did some stuff, that wasn't okay at all. We –" She paused. After she had taken another deep breath she forced herself to actually tell something if just to convince Tobey to tell his own dirty secrets. "Well, we paid to some guy to buy alcohol and cigarettes for us. We took my brother's car sometimes, none of us girls had a license, but we thought it was alright as long as nobody would catch us. Stupid kids, not knowing what we were doing."  
"You caused a car crash, then?" Tobey's eyes danced a little with disgusting excitement at the thought.  
"No. We weren't involved in a _car_ _accident_, but that didn't make the whole idea any better. Today I know this, but back then it had seemed harmless to us." Scully sighed and shrugged.

Tobey pouted thoughtfully. "Why did you say 'car accident' so strangely?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"Does that mean something else happened? Because so far, I don't see anything actually unusual. Don't get me wrong. Sounds like you used to be a spoiled, little brat."  
"I think we can cut the insults," Mulder interrupted the man with a warning glance before Scully had a chance to voice the anger forming in her guts.  
"Sure thing." Tobey smiled daringly. "I just wanted to say, so far it sounds like the average – let's call it 'rebel-yell'."  
Scully stretched her neck to get rid of the tension forming in her nape. "Listen, I don't want to tell you the whole story of my entire life. All you need to know is that I've made many mistakes in my earlier life – but I've learned from it, so I actually don't see why I am here." She narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose slightly despite all efforts to not appear like a stubborn child.

Mulder watched her closely and thanks to his training and intuition he didn't miss the definite signals of shame, regret and fear of being caught. Some indicates she couldn't hide and sent without even noticing.

"Fine. Like I said, I'm Tobey Connelly. Ma'am", he made a completely inappropriately devoted and in this situation clearly mocking gesture to Scully. She didn't even raise a brow. "I'm in my forties. _Huh_. I confess, okay, I too did some heavy shit, but it was never like – _ugh_. It was really not that bad, okay," he hissed, acting like he had been attacked. His face had gained a color that reminded awkwardly of an eggplant.  
Mulder chewed absently on the inside of his cheek before he asked, "Would we put you behind bars if we would know?" The overweight man paled clearly and his mouth hung open to show a gap.  
Recovering swiftly he simply answered, "Yes." and shot daring glances toward the Agent.

"What about you?" Scully's voice suddenly broke the unpleasing silence. She looked questioningly at the trembling girl, but she kept on staring ahead and whimpering, appearing totally oblivious to the fact that she wasn't alone. Sighing Scully asked again, changing her inquiring tone to a tenderly soft and understanding one, "Hey, it's okay, none of us will do you any harm. Looks like you've been through something horrible. I can understand that you don't want to talk now, but you don't have to be scared. We will help you, okay? Just tell us your name."  
The girl looked up, facing the direction of the older woman, her eyes racing to and fro the whole time. Then she seemed to calm down a little and stared intensely into Scully's friendly eyes.

The girl's mouth hung open and her eyes were wide with shear fear vivid in them, eventually she nearly whispered in a rather high-pitched and trembling voice, "Nora"  
All of a sudden she jumped to her feet and tried to rush over to Scully with such speed and force that took everyone by surprise. However the shackle on her ankle made her stumble and fall back to the ground; her head, shoulder, knees and palms hitting the iron grating hard, sending a very repulsive sound through the room.

Startled the two men and Scully sucked the air through gritted teeth. After a swiftly passing moment of shock the girl, Nora began fighting the iron shackle franticly as if her life depended on freeing herself from it – which, in fact, wasn't too far from the truth.

"Hey, _stop_ that! _Hey_, _NORA_!" Scully screamed alerted, trying to reach for the hysteric girl when she wouldn't stop and just kept hurting herself even more. Finally Nora stilled, lying on her back and panting heavily. Big tears flooded her eyes and fell without a halt as she cried desperately. Violent sobs shook her whole body and miserable, choking sounds emerged from her open mouth.

"Alright, alright… alright," Scully chanted relieved, running her fingers through her damp hair. "Nora? Nora, you hear me?" she asked carefully, not wanting to push her luck.

As her whimpers started to ebb a little the girl attempted to speak between still heavy sobs. "Y-yes."  
"Please, try to stay calm. Fighting would do no good for now," Scully said cautiously. When Nora made a weak effort to get up she raised her hands. "Wait, wait, I promise, we'll get you home, okay?"

'Big mistake,' Mulder thought. 'Never give a promise you probably won't be able to keep.'

"For now," Scully went on. "Tell us your full name and what you do for a living. It's alright, okay?"  
Nora picked herself up clumsily and as she sat as comfortable as possible in this inhuman situation she rose her trembling voice, "I- I'm Nora Bailey, I'm nineteen and I don't have a job or somethin'. I-I keep company for money." She looked like a deer in the headlights.  
"You mean, you're a whore," Tobey stated, half questioningly. Both Agents shot a warning glance his way and he raised his brow and averted his eyes.  
"Go on," Scully said to Nora, keeping her tone casual and friendly.  
Nora swallowed visibly and nodded her head almost unnoticeably. "Well, yeah, somewhat." She dared to shoot a quick look at Scully before looking at her hands and starting to speak again. "I have a baby girl and she needs so much I can hardly keep her from starving. I-" She wanted to defend herself more, but another sob cut her off.  
Agent Scully spoke up, trying to sound as understandingly as she could, "It's alright, nobody blames you. How old is your daughter?" It seemed like Nora had to think rather hard, baffling the others a bit, for she appeared to be a desperate and loving Teenage-Mom, who did everything for her baby. None of the others could imagine such a mother would not know her own child's age.  
After a while the girl answered, "She's 'bout six months. You know, I have no one, it's not easy."  
"What about the father?", Mulder asked, a frown creasing his forehead.  
"He's... he left me," Nora replied, obviously reluctant to answering any more questions about her daughter or the circumstances of her life.  
"I'm sorry," Scully began, truly feeling sorry for her. "I understand your dilemma, but do you have an idea about why could you be here then? Do you have anything, what would reason your-" She was obviously struggling to find the right words. "your '_stay'_ in here? Something you did, that was really not okay? Don't mind telling us, each one of us seems to be here for a reason. All of us did something very wrong."  
The girl shot Mulder an almost hateful glance. "But he didn't," she spat out, surprisingly harsh. Pointing at Scully and Tobey she said, "And you won't tell."

A few minutes went by during which nobody said a word. Nora was right. And the three others knew it. None of them actually confessed anything. Mulder licked his lips involuntary, thinking, '_I myself the least_.'

Just when the silence reached the edge of becoming unbearable the young boy, who had been unconscious until then stirred and moaned, apparently coming round.

The convicts watched tensely as the boy started moving uncoordinatedly. A weak, raspy voice announced his awareness. "Where am I? ..._Nora_?"

_**To Be Continued... **_


	3. Hello, Richie

**Disclaimer: **No copyright infringements intended! 

_**Chapter Details: **_

**Title Chapter 3: **Hello, Richie  
**Chapter 3 Summary: **Relatives reunited and introduction to the first trap. Enjoy.  
**Words in Chapter 3: **2.759

* * *

**Part 3:  
Hello, Richie **

The captives shuddered as they watched the boy slowly coming back to consciousness. Nobody was looking forward to seeing the reaction to his own miserable condition.

The boy coughed and winced. He tried to scan his surroundings, but his confused and uninvolved expression clearly showed that his mind hadn't processed all the new and highly displeasing information yet. He tried to stand up on shaky legs, but got pulled back to land on his backside instantly. As he clumsily lifted his weight from the grid Mulder saw his left hand was not visible but hidden by a stone-block, or rather _inside_ the block.

Nobody could think of a sensible thing to say and so the next noise was the boy's hoarse voice rising again, "Nora, is that you? Where are we, Nora?" He sounded more like a frightened toddler than a boy around sixteen, but nobody blamed him, the situation was horrible enough to turn a grown man into a whimpering baby.  
Nora stared at him, her lips were tightly pressed together and no sound came from her. She didn't move. It was impossible to tell whether she was frozen in place by shock or under the impression that she would be invisible if she appeared inanimate. Breaking the strange moment Mulder cleared his throat. Startled the boy turned to face him. Just then he seemed to notice that there were people other than him and Nora. They said their hellos, just as if everything was fine and they had just met in some coffee-shop, adding another awkward aspect to the whole scene.

Mulder asked for the boy's name and background, but he ignored the Agent's question. Instead of answering he began speaking in a voice that sounded just as raspy and weak as Mulder's had minutes ago. "Why am I here?"  
Mulder tried to reply as easing as possible. "We don't know that, we're all captives just like you. Please, tell us your whole name." The boy frowned and his suddenly piercing eyes searched the room before he finally gave in.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself to speak. "I'm Richie. _Uhm_, Richard Frank." Mulder nodded at his words.  
"Alright. Hello, Richie. Can you tell us how old you are and what you do all day?" The Agent frowned and tried to figure out how to free the boy while he listened to him talking.  
"I'm sixteen and I'm a student. What's this all about?" Richie tried to gesture at the scene, but devices attached to him made it almost impossible.  
Mulder decided it would be best to just go on questioning, distract him from starting to panic. He would try to explain to the best of his abilities later and the boy seemed to be able to handle the situation so far, at least better than the still shaky girl. "What is the last thing you remember?" he asked severely.  
Richie stared at his captured left hand and mumbled, "I'm not sure. I came home yesterday. It must have been 'round eight for that's when the neighbors send their dog out each day. I climbed out of my window and played with the dog a bit. That's all I can remember. What the fuck is _that_?" He pointed – or tried to point – at his captured hands. The framework on his right arm wouldn't allow him to actually bend it in any place or way.

Scully shifted and pulled a little on her shackle to get closer to him. Lying almost flat on her stomach she stretched and carefully inspected the framework on Richie's arm. "_Uh_, I don't know what it is good for, but -" She crawled back and sat up again. "It seems like there's no chance to get it off. Or can you move your left hand in _there_?" She pointed at the stone block. The boy grimaced, trying to do as she asked, but shook his head, disappointment clouding his features.  
"What does it look like?" Mulder inquired but Scully just shrugged her shoulders.  
"Can't tell." She sighed and lay back on the ground, moving as close as possible to the boy. She tilted her head, the cold iron grate already close enough to touch her cheek sent a brief shiver of disgust through her. Grimacing she peeked at the stone-thing. "Seems to be fixed to the grate." Addressing Richie she asked, "Does it hurt?"  
He shook his head and said, "Not much. Not if I don't move, that is."

Nora had only been watching silently until then, now she asked, her voice shockingly clear and loud, "What did you really do yesterday evening? _How_ did you '_play'_ with that dog?" The others looked at her, irritated. Nora just shook her head. "I know you hurt the dog, didn't you? I bet that's why you're here."  
"Wait," Mulder said, interrupting her. "So, obviously you two know each other. Could you throw some light on it for us?"  
Nora moved her gaze to him and thought about it for a minute before she explained, "He's my brother. Yah, I changed my surname when I was thirteen and left home. Dad was... he was some minor asshole." Before Nora could go on Richie shot to attention.  
"_Shut your mouth, you cunt!_" he barked. "You don't know _a thing_! You ran away, you don't have any right to judge!" His sister glared at him with flaming eyes.  
"At least I left before I could become some sick, brain-dead baiter – unlike someone in this room!" She tilted her head. Her eyes were wide and daring.  
Richie was about to shoot her a retort, but Agent Scully held up her hands to end the fight and called in a dictatorial tone, "Silence! This is certainly neither the right place nor time for a fight between siblings. Richie, is that true? We're not here to judge over you, we just need to know the truth. Since everybody here seems to have some 'dark secret'" She made a dramatic face, unconsciously trying to deny and make a joke out of a highly dangerous situation. "Something bad we did. That is the reason why he picked us. It's maybe what will help us get free."  
"Who?" the boy asked. "_Who_ picked us?"  
"The sicko, who put us here, Einstein," Tobey said, dropping into the conversation. Scully turned her face to him, one brow dangerously high.  
"_Thank you_," she hissed. "But I'll take it from here if you don't mind." She turned back to Richie. "Yes, _that_ guy. Please, just tell us everything. We need to know, maybe it helps us to find a way out" Richie turned a deep shade of red and stared at his trapped hands, after half a minute had passed his voice sounded again, low and quiet.  
"Yeah, it's true. Pitcher, that's the neighbor's dog. Yesterday I caught him and cut his tail off." He shrugged nonchalantly. "That filthy beast barks in the early morning, every fucking day, two hours before I would have to get up for school and -"  
"_Okay_, you don't have to go into detail," Scully said, stopping the boy from continuing his repulsive speech. "This is… _God_!" She took a deep breath. "But, like I said before, we're not here to judge you." Thinking, but not voicing it she added, 'God may do this. And thoroughly, please.'

As the Agent looked at her partner she saw his disgusted face and was just thankful the boy hadn't seen it. She widened her eyes swiftly then shook her head slightly, signalizing Mulder, she knew well how repelling and sadistic this was, but for the time being they should pretend to be able to ignore it. He got the hint and shrugged absently, a look of anger flashing over his face, but it was gone so quickly, Scully couldn't be entirely sure if she'd really seen it.

"Hey," Richie said, sounding rather confident again. "What about you, _huhn_?" He gazed intensely at Nora and his eyes seemed to pick up an excited sparkle. "The last thing I heard about you was when Dad was speaking to an officer. You got jailed for _illegal prostitution_, _negligence of wards_ and _possession of drugs_. Good job, sis. Dad said he wouldn't bail you out for you're not his daughter anymore. You nasty whore. You let yourself get laid to get your H and then you won't even feed your own crack-baby" The smirk on his bruised face was nothing less than cruel.  
"She's _not_ a 'crack-baby'!" Nora screamed hysterical, her voice cracking and shrill. "And nothing of this is your business, anyway! Why don't you go beat up some more small kids or burn another cat to death?" The girl was crying by now, tears of anger and plain hatred for her younger brother.

"Enough!" Mulder nearly screamed before anyone could say another word.  
"How much time have we got left?" Scully asked out of the blue.  
Richie looked up, obviously forgetting his rage over the question. "How long till what?"  
Mulder gazed at his wristwatch. It had a crack going through the entire glass now, but it was still working. "It's exactly 6pm now. When the light went on it was 5.15. I guess, he means, 24 hours after 5pm. At least I hope so. I have no idea since when we're here." He threw his partner a meaningful glance and her expression mirrored his worry. "Where did you get this from?" He suddenly asked pointing at Scully's and Tobey's cassettes and the recorder.  
"Was lying next to me when I woke up," Tobey said, shrugging reluctantly.  
Scully picked her cassette up and patted her chest. When nobody seemed to get it she rolled her eyes and said, somewhat annoyed, "'twas in my bra."

In unison the three remaining captives without a tape began to search their cloths and close surroundings. Richie had some trouble doing so, thanks to the devices on his arms. Finally Nora, too, pulled one of the little objects out of her bra. Mulder found one in the left front pocket of his trousers. Richie sighed frustrated, but then his eyes caught glimpse of the stone-block in which his left hand was captured. He shifted in his seat, enough so he could reach the block with his stiff, right hand. He tried a few times to get something, the others couldn't see out of it, but failed. Frantically looking around he shouted, "_Dammit_! I need something spiky" The others began to search their surroundings again when Tobey went still all of a sudden.  
"What?" Mulder asked. He had noticed the change in the other man's expression. Slowly Tobey pulled something out of a slim gap in the iron grate. He held it up to examine it and Mulder was able to recognize it as a very small penknife. As the overweight man snapped it open they saw that its blade was only 0.2 inches broad and no longer than 0.3 inches.

"That's perfect. Throw it," Richie exclaimed, holding his stiff arm out. For a second Tobey hesitated. Then he simply threw it across the room for the boy to catch. He didn't catch it – luckily – but it landed only a bit farther away with a scattering noise and didn't vanish into the grate. Richie stretched his whole body and with his right foot he was able to reach and pull it up to him. "Awesome. You could've closed it, though, you know." He raised a brow at Tobey, who didn't even care enough to shrug.

The boy made a few unsuccessful attempts to get the cassette out of its hiding place. It always slid back in before he was able to get hold of it. "Just fucking help me," he barked at his sister. She stared at him with wide eyes, partly disgusted, partly scared. Eventually Nora crawled closer to her brother and took the penknife from his hand. She bent over to reach the block as best as she could and began to work on it. Because of her still trembling hands it took her some time until she finally got the tape.  
"Good. Now give it to Mister Connelly," Mulder instructed and nodded in the slightly older man's direction. Nora did as asked and carefully casted the cassette to Tobey. The man caught it and immediately put it into the recorder. A click sounded through the hall followed by the already well known, distorted voice of _Jigsaw_.

"Hello, Richie.  
Today is your lucky day. You have been injected with the same poisonous substance as your disputable company. If you don't find the remedy in time you will die a slow and painful death.  
Since you seem to be a skilled and passionate tormenter yourself, you will certainly find this utterly pleasing and delightful. This is the chance to test your own, beloved methods on yourself. You must be thrilled.

Make your choice, Richie, either stay in your bonds, relish in great pain and finally welcome death. Or free yourself and get a taste of how your victims feel when your hands are upon them.  
To come free you will have to play a joyous game. Your first task is to free yourself from the block. Be aware that you _already_ laid a hand on the right button.  
How much blood are you willing to shed for freedom? You can decide whether you want to do it yourself or let your sister do it. The first option would include some effort and willpower. I am not convinced you can afford any. The latter would mean you have to put your destiny in someone else's hands. Oh, the irony. Just like the ones who had to obey in your games.  
You will have to feel what they feel, either way. And for your right arm, you probably noticed the machinery on it. As soon as your left hand is freed you will have exactly one hundred and eighty seconds to reach the key to remove the framework from your arm. To you the key is the light at the end of a tunnel, but beware, it is a quite uneven way. Every sixty seconds it will pull the strings a little tighter and since you are unable to bend your arm – well, I'm sure, you get the point.

Play by the rules, Richie."

The tape stopped with another click. Four pairs of eyes were trained on the teenager. No noise, not even breathing was audible and an uneasy stillness dominated the air in the room.

Richie seemed entirely oblivious to his awful situation, confusion over what he should do now was written all over his face. His lower lip was trembling and small pearls of cold sweat were forming on his forehead.

Frowning deeply Scully pinched the back of her nose and mumbled thoughtfully, "_You already laid a hand on the right button_." She sighed and rubbed her forehead. Suddenly her eyes went wide. Mulder nodded enthusiastically, the same thought going through his head.  
"Richie, can you feel something under your palm?" Mulder indicated toward the stone block. The boy gazed at him helplessly before he moved his concentration to his hidden hand. It was completely immobilized inside the heavy block, but looking at it Richie noticed there was a small, round hole in the stone through which he was able to see a part of the back of his hand. He focused hard to feel what was beneath his unmoving palm. His tongue darted out a tiny bit.  
"Yes, I think so," he said, his trembling voice revealing a certain amount of doubt.  
"Can you press on it?" Mulder asked, but Richie shook his head instantly.  
"No, this wouldn't do," Scully mused aloud. "He said you will have to shed some blood to come free and that either you or Nora could do it." 'But do what?' She added in her thoughts.

The boy shot a nervous glance at the only visible spot of his captured hand. A small 'x' was painted on the pale skin and Richie didn't want to know what it meant.

Quietly Nora peeked over her brother's shoulder and with a mischievous glint in her eyes she squealed, "There's a hole in the stone thing and a mark on his hand!" Richie froze. Mulder, sitting to their right narrowed his eyes.  
"When there's a button under his hand and he can't press it, nor can he move the hand, he'll have to -" Mulder looked up.  
Scully's features hardened. Finishing his line of thoughts she said, "stab through."

_**To Be Continued... **_


	4. Feel What They Feel

**Disclaimer: **No copyright infringements intended!

_**Chapter Details: **_

**Title Chapter 4: **Feel What They Feel  
**Chapter 4 Summary: **Richie's trap.  
**Words in Chapter 4: **3.444

~*~_** WARNING: **__graphic violence in this chapter!_ (Let's say it all together: _FUCK YEAH GORE!_) ~*~

* * *

**Part 4:  
Feel What They Feel **

'_Stab through_.' Meaningless and empty the words sounded through Richie's mind. His blood rushed loudly in his ears and comprehension had not yet fallen upon him.

Nobody dared to say a word. The time it took for Richie's face to regain some of its color was an appreciated break from the disturbing haste.

Eventually the meaning of the conclusion hit Richie with the impact of a falling brick wall. His eyes widened with shear panic in them. "_What? No!_" He tried to back away, but the stone block held him firmly in place.  
"I'm afraid, you won't have a say in this," Mulder stated, keeping his voice neutral and calm, not wanting to frighten the already panicking boy even more. However Richie just shook his head, denial and determination showing on his face.  
"No! Just no. See, I can't do this. This is _sick_! And – _BACK OFF!_" Nora had scooted closer to her sibling, the penknife still tightly in her grip.  
"You think you can have an opinion on what's sick? _You_? Seriously?" Nora smiled wickedly. Dried blood and tears have left smudged streaks on her face. She wasn't desperately crying anymore, only an insane hysteria was modeling her sharp features. "I wanna get outta here. And here's a chance for one of us to run free so I'll make use of it, whether you like it or not." Her voice was full of rancor and intransigence.  
"I'm sorry, but your sister is right. This is certainly no pleasing job, but either you go through this, sacrifice your hand and maybe we can get free or we're all doomed for sure. Do you prefer to stay? Well, don't worry, we'd keep you company," Mulder said coldly. He had a hard time disguising his deep disgust for the little sadist. Yet at least he managed to not verbalize the mostly x-rated comments that came to mind. However his partner threw him an accusing gaze from the opposite side of the room.  
Scully straightened her back and cleared her throat. "_Sacrifice_ may be not the right word. It depends on where you – _uhm_" She blew a breath out. "Well, where you place the cut. There is a good chance, your hand won't be lost to you" '_Good chance, tiny chance,_' she thought. '_Pretty much six of one and half a dozen of another_.'

The look of a hunted animal mirrored in Richie's eyes. Pleadingly he gazed at the others, but their imperturbable expressions just told him that there was no chance for him to get out of this. Resigning he let his shoulders drop and his face turned into a hardened mask.  
"Give me the knife," the boy stated in a quiet monotone.

Expecting instructions from another person Nora looked around and her eyes settled on Mulder's. The Agent just nodded reassuringly and heaving an uncertain sigh Nora handed the penknife over to her brother.

Everyone in the room sucked in their breaths almost in unison when Richie positioned the knife above the back of his hand. Even if his hand hadn't been trembling it would have been incredibly difficult to be precise with the machinery stiffening the arm of his more or less free hand. He took several deep breaths and stared intensely at the spot. Anxiously Nora leaned forward and raised a trembling hand to cover her mouth. A morbid fascination took over the captives, in a way similar to how a car crash raised one's attention.

As the air grew thick with anticipation the boy suddenly reached out and captured a tangled lock of his sister's hair with his right hand, the knife threateningly close to her skin.  
"You think I'm nuts? _I will not injure myself!_ And nobody else will. I'd rather kill that bitch," Richie shouted, his face flushing a deep shade of red.  
"Charming family," Mulder muttered under his breath before he sat up straight, raising his hands to show the boy his palms in a gesture of surrender. "Don't make a mistake, Richie, she is not the enemy. Let go of her and lower the knife," he said, but the boy just barked a laugh.

Mulder saw his partner trying to crawl closer to the siblings. Unfortunately Richie must have caught glimpse of a movement to his left, too, and immediately he turned to Scully, still holding his sister by her hair she whirled around with him and sharply cried out in pain.  
"Don't you dare," Richie growled, pushing the knife roughly against the sensitive skin of Nora's nape. A thin trickle of light red blood appeared where the knife had cut the girl. She squealed startled and tears shot to her eyes.  
"I'm sorry. Just, please, don't do it. She is your sister after all. And can you imagine what would happen to you if we'd get out of here?" Scully kept talking, mainly to distract the boy for out of the corner of her eyes she noticed Mulder picking on the wall to free a piece of the old, cracking tiles that covered most parts of the walls. Soon he held a dirty shard in his right hand and aimed for Richie's head.

For a moment Scully pictured the lifeless form of Richie lying on the ground, the shard stuck deep in his head. How would they get out?  
A brief wave of guilt washed over her when she realized that she hadn't wasted a single thought of sorrow on the boy's hypothetical death. However it was gone quickly.

Her eyes darted to the side for not longer than a millisecond, but Richie caught sight of it. He turned around just in time to see the tile flying his way. It was too late to avoid a collision and as the piece hit his head he lost his balance and fell backwards with a loud thud. On his forehead a nasty gash had formed.

Luckily Richie didn't lose consciousness. The tile hadn't hit him very hard, though he seemed to be a little discomposed. Without any hesitation Nora took the chance to grab the penknife from his limp right hand, soft whimpers slipping from her lips the whole time.  
"Good. Now do it," Agent Mulder said, clearly tensed. He made an encouraging gesture as Nora placed the knife on her brother's hand. She had to lie down and stretch on the ground so she could reach the block properly.

Whining Nora shook her head and pulled her hand back a bit. "I can't." From the other side of the room a harsh bark of laughter sounded.  
"Just do it already, you whiny brat!" At the sound of Tobey's rude command Nora twitched and whimpered aloud, the knife, slippery in her sweating hand shook so hard it came dangerously close to the boy's skin.  
Taking a few deep breaths Nora eventually narrowed her eyes and determination replaced the look of anguish on her face for a few seconds. She detested her little brother with every fiber of her heart, but causing him physical harm on purpose was a whole different story. Sobbing desperately she finally pushed the knife in Richie's hand. Just slightly and somewhat cautious at first, pulling back in shock as soon as she had drawn blood, but when she felt him stir next to her she made up her mind. It was either his hand or all their lives. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but even if it had been just him or her she would have done it.

The next stab wasn't hard for Nora anymore. She hit a bone. Richie started to shift and soft noises came over his lips. Adrenalin rushed through Nora's veins and again she smashed the knife into her brother's hand, hard and without compassion. A few tiny drops of blood splashed up and painted her own hand. A wild look shaded her eyes and falling into a frenzy she pushed the knife in Richie's hand, again and again. Even when she couldn't see anything but a puddle of blood she didn't stop. The small blade made terrible noises as is splashed in the blood, tore skin apart and connected with bones.

The knife had gone already halfway through Richie's hand when the boy woke up fully. Throughout the whole procedure he had been whimpering and turning his head from side to side like a reluctant toddler getting his fingernails cut, but now as his senses cleared he started screaming. The knife pierced his open flesh and sent a soaring pain through him that seemed to evolve into a raging fire, taking over his whole body. His thoughts got blurred as the pain increased, always feeling like it couldn't get worse just before it did just that. Desperately, crying and screaming, he tried to take flight. Nora had noticed him waking up in time so she stiffened and pushed him down with her whole weight, trying to keep the boy's right arm and face away from her with one hand, her other hand still busy with the abhorred job.  
"Hurry," Scully shouted helplessly, her eyes wide with horror at the disgusting sight. Just when Nora hit a blood vessel and slick, red liquid shot up and all over her distorted face, mingling with hot tears that streamed uncontrolled over her cheeks gargling noises were to be heard from the opposite corner. The girl didn't even take notice for she was too wrapped up in repeatedly slamming the knife down into the mess of blood and flesh.  
The Agents on the other hand both turned their heads to find the source of the awful sound. Tobey was bending over, leaning most his weight on one hand and clutching his middle with the other. He panted and retched and in a fluent splash he threw up. Instantly the mass of bile and partly digested food sent a foul, acidic stench pullulating through the room.  
Quickly Mulder covered his mouth and nose with one hand and leant back as if he could escape the reek while Scully too clapped a hand over her mouth and retched, suppressing the urge to empty her own stomach as well.  
However the screaming and banging noises on the other side soon drew their attention back to the gory scene. The siblings were still fighting and suddenly Richie kicked his foot in Nora's face. It connected hard with her nose evoking a nauseating crack. She pulled back gasping, holding her nose and pressing her eyes shut, tears streaming without much of a halt through her closed eyelids. A broad line of thick, dark blood started forming at her nostrils and flowing down her chin. Her nose was obviously broken in at least one place.  
"Nora, don't stop now, you're almost done," Mulder, still trying to ignore the horrid stench tried to keep the girl going. Breathing heavily Nora looked at the tall Agent with a baffled and disturbed expression on her oddly altered face before she nodded, breathing heavenly through her open mouth and forced herself to finish the job. Blood ran over her lips and into her mouth, a metallic taste spreading quickly on her tongue.  
Hesitantly she approached the writhing form of her crying brother and once again reached her hand with the penknife in it out for the block.

As the cold steel touched the gaping in Richie's hand he cried out in shock and pain anew and returned to hitting and kicking his tormentor, but Nora was fully alert now and luckily able to fend him off. With one last thrust she finally managed to break through the last bit of hand and simultaneously press the button with the tip of the knife.

In an instant a single click echoed through the room and Richie fell back, being unexpectedly freed. Sobbing and whimpering he carefully pulled his left hand close to his chest and rocked back and forth, saliva and tears streaming down his face.  
"Rich-," Nora started to whisper as she reached out a soothing hand for her brother, but pulled back swiftly when the boy began to scream kick aimlessly through the air again.

For a few seconds no one dared to speak and the only noise was breathing and heart-wrenching sobbing. Finally Mulder spoke up, "Hey, what's that ticking noise?" His partner, Tobey and Nora concentrated hard and listened.  
With a confirming nod Scully said, "I hear it too. It's coming from – oh, _shit_! Richie? Hey, Richie, please, dear, look at me. I'm sorry, but you have to get up and get the key." Frantically Scully looked around, whispering, "What did he say? '_A tunnel.'_ What the - ?" She frowned and took a shaking breath. Loud and clear she said, "There has to be something that could be described as a_ tunnel_, maybe some hole or something. We have to -" She stopped midsentence when she saw Mulder pointing above her head. As she turned her head to look over her shoulder she saw a barred hole in the wall. She got up, clumsily, due to the shackle that still constrained her mobility and hopped over to the hole. Stretching to get a look of the inside of it she felt a shiver running down her spine.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness in the short tunnel. It was only about five feet long but peppered with razor blades. On its backside Scully's eyes caught a tiny sparkle and supposed it had to be the key for the machinery on the boy's right arm. "_Light at the end of the tunnel_," she mumbled, recalling what the mechanic voice had said.

"Richie," the Agent spoke up, firmly. "Get over here and in there." And with that she turned back to the hole and began rattling on the grate that covered it. Richie however stayed in his supposedly safe place, out of anyone's reach and kept rocking back and forth, shaking his head desperately. "Come – _argh_ – over here," Scully said, panting as she finally managed to loosen the grate a bit. Shaking his head harder Richie whined and his feet began tapping on the ground, restlessly. Suddenly there was another loud, clicking noise which came from a timer that was attached to the device around Richie's shoulder. The boy tilted his head, shut his eyes tightly and a muffled cry of terror escaped through his gritted teeth as the machinery set in motion. Accompanied by a sharp and loud noise the strings pulled themselves tighter causing the bones of Richie's arm to grind into each other. Slowly a reddish and bluish-yellow mark appeared on the boy's wrist and elbow and his arm went limp inside the framework.

"_Dammit!_ Move, you stupid kid! It will just get worse if you don't," Scully screamed frustrated and exhausted. Eventually Richie got up, shaking, and reluctantly approached the Agent's side. "Can you move the fingers of your left hand?" Scully asked, expecting a clear no. She gripped Richie's left, free shoulder, forcing him to face her. Even more tears fell from his eyes as he slowly nodded. Surprise flickered across Scully's face and she sighed with immense relief. "Good." She grabbed the grate again. She inhaled sharply, held the breath and pulled as hard as she could.  
Reluctantly the grate gave a few cracking noises before it finally came off. As it gave way Scully stumbled backwards and almost fell. The grate slipped from her fingers, dropped and hit her shin, sending a jolt of pain up her leg. She groaned and swore incomprehensibly.  
"Woah," Mulder exclaimed from the other side of the room.  
"I'm fine," Scully hissed through gritted teeth before he could say another word.  
"Are you sur-," Mulder started to ask, but got cut off when Scully insistently held up a hand.  
"_I'm fine!_" She stared ahead, trying to sort out her thoughts. However her leg was throbbing with pain it would leave nothing but a bruise whilst the teenager waiting next to her would probably lose an arm or two. She couldn't afford any self-pity and she certainly had no nerve to endure her partner's protectiveness just now.

"C'mere," Scully mumbled absently, leaning against the wall, next to the small tunnel. She put her hands together for the boy to step in and tensed. Sobbing desperately Richie simply obeyed, too worn and scared to fight and let the woman push him up while he tried to keep himself from losing balance.  
When he was high enough to lean into the small tunnel he placed his hands in it and immediately another loud scream escaped his lips. He hadn't seen the razor blades before and now they were cutting into the already sore flesh.

Noticing how Richie prepared to escape from the tunnel Scully felt she had no choice but to push him in there, mercilessly. And so she did.

"I'm sorry, but it's for your own good. Now go get the key," the woman ordered and hoped he would do as she said and not simply exit the terrifying tunnel. From its inside came hoarse cries and Scully saw the boy's foot reappeared already at the entry. Then, all of a sudden there was this loud, clicking noise again, followed by gruesomely smacking cracks and a choked yelp.

When the pain in Richie's arm faded a bit and turned into a dull throbbing he decided to try to get the key. Trembling, he slowly crawled through the knife-peppered tunnel, accompanied by the sound of his own uncontrollable whimpers. Every time the sharp blades pressed into his skin and drew blood he nearly blackened out.

Outside Scully watched in horror as red lines of blood emerged from the hole in the wall. Only the crying and rustling convinced the others that the boy was still alive. Inside Richie finally reached the backside of the tunnel. The key was fixed to the wall with tape and his heavily trembling fingers ripped it off. Very clumsily he tried to get the key into the lock of the machinery, but the ghastly hole in his hand made using it almost impossible. The key slipped from his fingers. "_No_!" The boy shouted angrily. As careful as possible he slid his fingers between two blades and fished the key out of the gap. The lock was just a bit above his shoulder blade and he had to bend his wounded left hand painfully to reach it. "Where's it? Where is it? WHERE THE FUCK IS IT?" He barked and groaned as he frantically tried to push the key into the lock.  
The clicking noise echoed once again, the third and last time and Richie knew, in a second his right arm would be entirely lost to him. Within less than a heartbeat the key slid into the lock and automatically Richie forced it to turn counter-clockwise. Luckily that was the right direction and the machinery sprung open just before it activated itself again, sparing his bones from further harm. Yet one of the strings snapped tighter while it was still too close to Richie's skin and slashed a nasty wound into it. However Richie didn't even notice this, his mind was clouded with shock and his blood coiling with adrenalin.

Heavily panting he freed himself completely from the machinery before carefully, though hastily crawling out of the tunnel. It wasn't an easy task. His right arm wasn't completely destroyed, but still badly bruised and limb, the bones were shattered in some places and useless for the time being.

"Oh, my gosh," Nora gasped as she saw her brother's face reappearing in the tunnel's entrance. Richie's features were distorted in pain and there was an emptiness in his eyes that was unusual, even for the little, heartless bastard he was.

As best as she could Scully helped the boy out of the tunnel, trying to not cause him any further torment.  
Once Richie was back on the iron grate that covered the room's floor he flung himself at the distressed Agent and cried into the woman's shoulder. Scully's shirt was already soaking wet, smeared with tears and blood, but she just let the kid cry and hug her as long as he wanted. At least for as long as she could bear to ignore the disgust she felt for what this troubled child had done to other living creatures.

Now they had an actual chance to survive. Richie would have to free the others somehow or at least find a way out of their cage to get help. None of the captives knew how to manage either of this, but they were not irrevocably doomed and this was all they wanted to think about at that moment.

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

Disturbing note, me while writing: "Oah, gross! Mwahaha!"  
Rewriting took like forever, but I can't believe how lame this was before. Me likes it much better now.^^ Time to go on with the story!


	5. Overhasty

**IMPORTANT; please, read:** The whole story is rewritten! Changes to the story are minor, changes to formatting and style are major. Yet the interesting parts – traps, gore and yuck – are expanded and way yuckier^^.  
You can just go on reading this chapter if you started the story before it was rewritten, but I recommend giving the whole thing another try. …it's better now. Not brilliant, but better than before. ;)

**Disclaimer: **No copyright infringement intended!

_**Chapter Details: **_**  
Title Chapter 5: **Overhasty _**  
**_**Chapter 5 Summary: **The way out - so close and yet so far. _**  
**_**Words in Chapter 5: **1.704

**A/N:** I got confused and mixed something up with the tapes in that chapter. Think I fixed it, but I'm not entirely sure, it wouldn't be an actual problem for the story, but it's annoying, though. So if you notice a mistake, please, let me know.  
I'm confused. Bubbles, bork and purple sheep. (That means nothing, I just needed a bit of '?' ;P )  
This chapter is a bit lame, but I figured it's better for me to keep the chapters short and okay than long and confusing the shit out of me.

* * *

**Part 5:  
Overhasty **

The whole room reeked of a disgusting mix of blood, sweat and vomit. However, none of the five captives seemed to mind anymore. Each one was either in shock or deep in thought.

Eventually Tobey cleared his throat. "I hate to break it to you people, but we're not actually back in comfy safety yet. Shouldn't we figure out how to get our arses outta here?"  
"Sure. I'm open for suggestions," Mulder replied in a dry voice. Meanwhile Scully had managed to loosen the clingy boy's grip on her a little.

Tobey raised his hand, like a student in a classroom. "You may want to hear my humble opinion?" He spoke up in a sarcastically sweet tone. It earned him a nasty glance from almost every direction. "So far we only heard the boy's tape and mine –"  
"Actually we haven't really heard yours," Scully interrupted him, smiling in a most disturbing way.  
"Whatsoever, missy," Tobey replied, nonchalantly, and casted the recorder across the ground without looking at it.  
Nora stopped the sliding recorder with her bare foot and appeared to be pondering over whether she should insert her own cassette or not. But before she could come to a conclusion Mulder looked up.  
"Nora, give me the recorder," he said, a thoughtful look on his face. The girl obeyed and carefully tossed the object to the Agent. Mulder caught it and removed Richie's tape. Holding out a hand to Tobey he said, "Your tape."  
"No way." Tobey shook his head determinedly and closed his fist around his cassette.  
"Man, give me the tape! I just want to hear the damn part we know already again."  
Startled by Mulder's unexpected harsh tone Tobey handed his tape over, realizing a little too late that he'd probably given away his secret if the other man wouldn't keep his word. But instead of playing the yet unheard revelation Mulder pressed rewind and obviously searched for a certain part.

"Mulder, what are you doing? You said it yourself, we heard that already." Scully stared at him and tried to lean away from Richie, who was still uncomfortably close to her.

Mulder didn't even listen to the others. When he found what he had been looking for he pressed play and indicated to others to keep quiet. The mechanic voice repeated the same message as before.

"_The key to run free is not far.  
"The right one to leave is a source of grief, but not if attentive you are.  
"With logic and wits, do as you see fits. Watch your step,  
"take one wrong and along an endless nap. " _

Mulder stopped the tape, pressed rewind and played the same part again.

After the voice had finished its little poem for the third time Mulder shook his head.  
"What?" Scully asked, a crease appearing between her brows.  
"This wouldn't make sense. Unless -" He got up and looked around.  
"What's with him? He gone nuts?" Tobey pointed his left thumb at Mulder, gazing at Agent Scully. Before she could reply her attention was drawn back to her partner.  
"Only the first line refers to the key in the tunnel. The rest is a cue on how we can find the key to leave the room."  
"Alright, but we're still –" Scully stopped midsentence when a sharp twitch of Mulder's head signaled her to not finish. She dropped her hand with which she had gestured toward the shackle capturing her ankle. She narrowed her eyes, shrugging questioningly and in reply her partner threw a quick, but meaningful glance in Richie's direction.  
It took her a while to finally realize what Mulder was implying. She widened her eyes and he nodded vaguely.  
Thankfully the silent conversation had gone unnoticed by the other members of the party.

At the moment the available information indicated there was a chance that the door of the hall was unlocked. They would only have to get rid of the shackles. If all shackles could be unlocked with the same key it would make sense. The chance that one key would fit in the locks to their shackles and the door was rather unlikely.  
Either way, they didn't want to risk the only free person in the room to leave and forget about the rest of them so it seemed best to not share the idea of this possibility with him.

"Another key then," Scully said, sighing.  
"Most likely it's more than just one," Mulder answered. "It said_ 'the right one'_. I suppose there will be more."  
"There're _none_ right now," Tobey huffed in his corner.  
"_Find_ not _receive_, use your head for once!" Mulder stared at him, running out of patience for the rude and highly uncongenial man.  
"Was there a cue on how we can find that key?" Nora, who cowered in her corner, asked rather quietly.  
"Yes," Mulder replied. Stress and tension were already nagging dangerously on his temper and seeping through his voice. "If you see something that has the shape of _keys_ – it's _probably_ keys!"  
"Mulder!" Scully shot him an appalled look and he silenced. "I'd say we all just search where we can. It can't be impossible. Richie, look in all the places the rest of us can't reach." She finally managed to completely shove the boy away. He left her side rather reluctantly, but did as he has been told and began searching, as did the rest of the party.

About five minutes had passed when Tobey sighed dramatically and sat down.  
"What if he's just playing with us? What if it's but a trick?" he asked, surprisingly calm for a man in his situation.  
"If it's really this Jigsaw Killer then it's not a trick. It is possible to survive his traps. You're not looking well enough," Scully muttered barely audible.

They kept searching, keeping their doubts and anguish to themselves. After a while Richie returned to Scully's side and touched her arm. The Agent pushed him away, a little rougher than what would have been necessary. She grabbed him by his one uninjured shoulder and forced him to look her in the eyes.  
"I know it's been already enough for you, but you're the only one running freely so far and we need you to –" She stopped herself as the boy started crying again. Quiet tears rolled down his cheek, erasing the memory of his gruesome deeds for a moment and turning him into a helpless and scared child.  
To Scully's surprise he didn't try to argue, neither did he go back to his task, but held up a small, silvery object. It was a key.  
A relieved hint of a smile crossed Scully's face as she took it and nodded approvingly at Richie.  
"Let's try it," she said, trying to put more confidence in her voice than she actually felt. As she knelt down and grabbed the shackle on her ankle she turned it to find the lock. "Ah." She tried to push the key in the lock. It slid in for about a third of its length, but before she could voice her frustration a yelp escaped her lips as a prickling pain rushed up her leg and sent her falling to the floor, suddenly unable to control her own body.  
Luckily her grip on the key hadn't loosened and so she involuntarily pulled it out as the spasm took her over. The pain vanished and left only a tingling sensation under her skin.

"Scully, what the?" Mulder nearly shouted from across the room.  
She didn't move at first, just lay there and panted heavily. The voice of her partner rose again, sounding startled and worried, but the memory of the sudden shock was still too clear and present. She groaned, willing to block the voices and current dangers out.  
When her breath had steadied and her pulse reached a more acceptable rate she inhaled deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. Her eyes flew open again.  
"I'm fine. It – There was – This thing... like live wire," she mumbled. Her mind felt clouded and her thoughts out of place, but she hoped the confused words would make some sense however. She took another deep breath and shook her head slightly. Her mind began to clear. "I'd say, this was the wrong key."  
"Are you alright?" Mulder asked, calmer now that her last sentence had contained more sense.  
Scully frowned, but nodded.  
"Splendid." She groaned once more as she pulled herself up to stand again. When she began speaking again her voice was weak and thin, but held a certain amount of confidence, however. "What are we waiting for? Go on searching. I'd like to get home as soon as possible." 'Into bed and stay there for at least two weeks,' she added in her thoughts.

It took almost fifteen minutes until someone else eventually cried out and held up a dirty piece of metal.  
"Well done, Nora. Now toss it over," Mulder said relieved as he gazed at the little thing in Nora's hand. However the girl showed an awkward expression as she shifted as close to Mulder as she could and finally tossed the key over, careful as not to fail its aim.  
The key landed safely in Mulder's palm, but as he wanted to grip it, it nearly slipped from his fingers and Nora squealed, releasing some of the built up tension in her weak body. The Agent luckily didn't drop the key and he held it up, smiling – smiling the smile of a man out in the open sea who just saw a tiny piece of rotten wood coming his way.

He didn't notice Richie bending down behind him. The boy's eyes had caught a reflection of light in the wall and it turned out to be another key, almost completely hidden behind a loose tile. He handed this one over to Mulder, too.  
"Mulder?" Scully's voice coming from the other side of the room indicated confusion and worry. As he turned to her he saw she too held up a key.  
"Well, guys, this is getting better and better, isn't it?" Tobey waved his hand, holding another key. "Any volunteers?"  
"I'd like to skip this time," Scully answered, dryly.

_**To be continued...**_

* * *

Hopefully within a short time – geez, time flies by, I didn't even notice how long I took to FINALLY upload. Sorry!

One more thing: I totally wanted to do a picture for this story, if you'd like to see it:  
_randommumble (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) gallery (slash) # (slash) d4yp1nt_  
Remove spaces and replace the (words) with the actual punctuation marks.  
If this link doesn't work go to my gallery (I'm RandomMumble there, too) and click on the one titled: 'Let The Game Begin'. Warning: Gore.

Don't want to be vain or something (daww, maybe a little proud, though ;P ), but I think I did a pretty damn good job on this drawing.^^


End file.
